The Poem The Nightmare Before Christmas
by Aaronpoe
Summary: My version of the poem. IT's the entire movie, some of which is Danny Elfman's lyrics, some are mine. I won't tell which up front though: If I did my job well, you won't notice the difference.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas, nor do I even own some of the poem below… this is simply my personal way of completing an incomplete poem. And please tell Disney that if this shows up on book shelves at children's book stores, I want 10. I don't think that's asking much, do you?

* * *

_**The Nightmare Before Christmas**_

_**Narrated by Patrick Stewart**_

_**Lyrics by Danny Elfman and Aaron Powell**_

'Twas a long time ago

Longer now then it seems

In a place that perhaps

You have seen in your dreams

The story of which you're about to be told

Began with the holiday worlds of old

Now, you may have wondered where holidays come from

And if you haven't, I'd say it's time you've begun

For the holidays are the results of much fuss

And hard work for the worlds that create them for us

To put it quite simply, that's all that they do!

They make one, unique holiday, especially for you

But once a calamity ever so great

Occurred when two holidays met by mistake…

Pumpkin Jack, the master of fright,

Was reflecting in a graveyard on a moonlit night

He felt unfulfilled with his Halloween day

And wished for something more merry, more gay

And, just by chance, on a stroll he did see

A red and green door in the side of a tree!

Intrigued, he wanted to know, 'Twas it for?

And he landed in snow when he stepped through the door

There he found a factory, two homes

A stable for deer, and hundreds of gnomes

Many a child lay all snug in it's bed

With no nightmares to wake them; no demons no dead.

He brought home with him the joy he had found,

And planned to share all he knew of Christmas Town…

Jack called a town meeting to show off the way

He'd make all Hallows Eve into a Christmas Day

The town seemed enthused, but did not understand

The joy their King felt when in Christmas Land…

Everyone had a role! That mayor made a ball,

The axeman made a nutcracker, vampires made a doll,

The doctor made some flying deer, the hangmen donated saws,

Sally made King Jack's bright red suit, and the kids kidnapped Santa Claus.

Then they brought him to his biggest fan

A left out, angry, gambling boogie man...

Jack got his wish; he flew into the night

Pulled by dead deer, and his dog, for some light

He was such a nuisance, he was duly shot down

And crashed in a graveyard not far from this town

It was then that he realized the wrongs he had caused

And set out to go and retrieve Santa Claus

But it turned out Sally had a similar plan,

And now Jack had to save both from the vile Boogie Man…

Both Jack and Oogie played fast at the reel,

And Jack beat the traps on that huge roulette wheel,

And he unstrung the threads that held Oogie tight,

Defeating the foe and making wrongs right.

Santa was shaken, but felt no offense,

And has brought a White Christmas to Jack every year sense.

And Sally and Jack, they finally settled down,

Giving a Queen to their Halloween town…

Yes, it seems everything worked out just fine

Christmas was saved, though there wasn't much time

But after that night things were never the same

For each holiday now knew the other ones' names

And though that one Christmas, things got out of hand

I'm still rather fond of that skeleton man

So many years later, I thought I'd drop in

And there I found Jack, still looking quite thin

With for or five skeleton children at hand

Playing strange little tunes in their xylophone band

And I asked ol' Jack "Do you remember the night

When the sky was so dark and the moon shown so bright,

When a million small children pretending to sleep

Almost had no Christmas at all, so to speak,

And would you, if you could turn that mighty clock back

To that long fateful night, now think carefully, Jack,

Would you do the whole thing all over again,

Knowing what you know now, knowing what you knew then?"

And he smiled like the old pumpkin king that I knew,

And he turned and asked of me softly, "_wouldn't you_?"


End file.
